Ekateryna Nova talks about how the current education system fails to reflect new research on what fosters innovation and creativity in schools. According to Nova, scientific and technological advances are driven by people with a broad range of interests – like biologists that study history or engineers that study art. However, while working on a project linking innovation economics with British Columbia’s attitudes towards multidisciplinary studies, Nova found that the current system actually hindered collaboration between disciplines rather than promote it. In her TEDx talk, Nova talks about how this attitude is not only damaging the potential for innovation, but also works in contrast to career projections of modern times – where an individual is expected to switch careers up to 7 times in their life time.

Ekateryna Nova graduated from UBC with a degree in Political Science and Economics in 2014.